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Back in Cochin

12 May about 8PMI'm now back in Cochin for a few days, currently sitting on a jetty inthe bay, under a full moon, and the call to prayer from the nearbymosque ended a few minutes ago. Of course, I'm sitting here by myself,even the four apparently French women at a nearby table have left. It'sprobably early for dinner, just 8 PM, but I have a full day tour of someof the Kerala backwaters scheduled for tomorrow, have attended a sampleperformance of the local type of theatre, Kathakali, and spent lastnight in a reclining chair on the ship from Lakshadweep. I opted fornon-veg again, with seered(sic) fish, spiced rice and eggplant.

My luck holds- I dropped my dive mask from the sink while rinsing itbefore I left Agatti, and the frame broke right at the bridge. This wasAFTER the last scheduled dive of this trip, and the mask is stillusable, it's just that the lenses conform to my face, instead of beingstraight. And I may be able to repair it. But, I think a new, probablyframeless (if I can get corrective lenses in that type), mask is indicated.

I think the synagogue with the blue Chinese tiles is open on Sunday, andit's just down the road, so I can connect with the Rushdie book a bitmore.

Delhi and Agra are going to be difficult, since I really only get twofull days there, and leave at 02:45 after that second day.I think I like India, and want to come back- I've not even scratchedthe surface.

The hotel here has a broadband connection, and were perfectly willing tolet me unplug their computer, and plug in mine, so I got a few queuedemail messages sent, and downloaded all of my incoming (mostly junk).

Sat about 15:00, on the Kerala backwatersI realized today that it's been about two weeks since I talked to oreven saw anyone I though was from the US. There are a couple ofCanadians on this backwaters trip, but that's the closest to anyone fromthe US since Joe left Havelock Island.

I also realized that I've not used a toilet roll since I arrived inIndia. They've often been available, but water is working very well forme. And I've not been ill at all, barring a bit of a stuffy head, thatdidn't even impede diving.

The boats here are made of smaller planks, sewn together with coir(coconut fiber), which they spin and braid here. We took a power boatfor the morning part of the trip on Lake Vembanadu, and am now beingpoled through some canals. This one was dug a long time ago, as ashortcut from the river, Moovattu Puzha, to the lake, but functions asthe main road, too. There are the two Canadians, me, and five Indiansin this boat. We saw a place where they burn mussel shells to makeslaked lime, and had a number of the local plants explained to us, sawtwo woemn spinning coir, with the help of a clever electrical motorsetup, and had coconuts dropped from a tree for us to drink and eat. Wealso had a very nice lunch, to which I added an optional bowl ofmussels, and most of us had coconut toddy, also. We also got a bit of a swim in, in the lake.

A chat with the Canadians about Kathakali indicates that there are atleast two places in Fort Kochi that do perfomances, and they got 4dancers and two musicians, to my one and one.There are four other boats full of tourists that we're passing going inas we're retracing our path out.

Saturday evening-When I got back to the hotel, after a nerve-shattering ride, I foundVU3SCC had just arrived and was waiting for me. We chatted a bit, andhe told me all the things he needs, and left for his home, very close tothe airport, 35+ kilometers away.I had a restorative shower and lay down for a bit, then decided to takea look at the Chinese fishing nets just a bit west of here. In additionto the nets, I found a fair crowd of people promenading on the seawalland waiting for the sun to go down, as well as fresh fish stalls andfood stalls where they'll cook your new purchase for you to order.After postponing the decision as long as I could, I bought 5 tigerprawns, and had them grilled. They were delicious, as was the kalamarinoodles that I got to accompany them. I'm just glad I only bought the 5for 120 INR, instead of twice the number for 200 INR. The grilling cost30 rupees. I had a short chat with another Canadian, too. He was toldthat the synagogue is closed tomorrow, too, for a Jewish holiday. Iftrue, foo! My flight is at 10AM Monday.

I like Fort Kochi.

I'll see if I can get another mango lassi, and send this out in a fewminutes.